I write to you from a sleep-deprived haze. Unlike the trials and tribulations of my classmates who are helping to save lives in hospitals, I found myself staying up all night due to a curious case of animal psychology. I awoke an hour after falling asleep to the sound of paper bags crunching and chairs being pushed around. After a moment of annoyance that my cat baby was pouncing about the kitchen, I decided to get up to play with him to tire him out. I grabbed his laser pointer and tried to get him to play, but he only looked casually at it and did not chase after it in a frenzy as he is apt to do. I put the laser pointer away, and noticed that he had run into the bathroom. As he never went into the bathroom without a person to bother, I followed him out of curiosity. Then I noticed a mouse on the floor. A small, grey, adorable mouse baby. And what was my cat baby doing?? Not attacking it ferociously as I would expect, but instead pouncing, holding the mouse in his mouth, and then releasing him to play with him more. At first I was annoyed. Was this senseless behavior the result of a cat living in luxury? That he would cease to perform basic cat duties in favor of finding himself through play? But as I watched him play I felt a sense of sympathy for his loneliness, that he would play with a mouse because he had no other cat friends to play with. Since I felt it irresponsible to have seen a mouse and let it go, I decided to let him play with the mouse to his heart's content by closing the bathroom door. Later on the evening, I opened it to find a nonchalant cat with a mangled mouse body. So he was useful for something after all. This was followed by another such mouse chase, hours of squeaking and pouncing, to be followed by crunching and another headless mouse body.
Pumpkin, having had his fill, left me no choice but to wake up and make my own breakfast. The winner of my Whole Foods shopping trip was a mild white cheddar cheese from the deli, $5 a pound and extremely flavorful. I toasted sprouted whole wheat bread, chopped smoked turkey and sauteed with cumin (cumin makes everything taste better, no?), and melted the cheese squares on top. Then I finished with a dollop of pesto, and poured milk into my lovely English breakfast tea. Though I did not attack my crostinis or paw at them for hours, I very much enjoyed this delightful breakfast!
